When Lady Macbeth dies (Act 5 Scene 5) of a medical condition, Seyton tells Macbeth that his wife is dead. This doesn’t affect Macbeth the slightest and so carries on with his life. This demonstrates that he has changes from a less dominant man into a completely dominant man. This is completely the opposite for Lady Macbeth. She was dominant at the start and less dominant at the end.
Throughout the play the reason Macbeth’s character changes is because the audience’s opinion of Macbeth changes. When the audience first here of Macbeth all we know is that Macbeth is a brave soldier who is very loyal and patriotic. But when the audience meets Macbeth he is gullible to the witches prophecies and is easily led dew to his wife Lady Macbeth also Macbeth has great ambition. Throughout the play Macbeth reveals his conscience and the audience feels great sympathy for Macbeth. After Macbeth kills King Duncan Macbeth feels he has to keep on killing to consolidate his position as king. During the play Macbeth relies on Lady Macbeth less and less. Macbeth feels remorse and regret but everyone thinks he is a butcher and a tyrant.
Macbeth is first mentioned by the bleeding captain as “brave Macbeth valour’s minion” fighting ruthlessly and carving up his enemy. With Banquo he is compared to an Eagle and Lion.
When Duncan arrives Macbeth finds it hard to put on a false face as he does not greet Duncan. Macbeth’s conscience shows as he is feeling guilt because he is mixed up with his ambition and the reality of having to kill Duncan. After Macbeth meets Banquo and Fleance, Macbeth hallucinates that he sees a dagger leading him to Duncan’s room. This shows Macbeth’s fear and troubled spirit, also this could be a sign that he will find it hard to cope with the effects of murdering someone.
The relationship between Macbeth and Lady Macbeth has deteriorated. Macbeth does not rely on her for support any longer, he makes his own decisions and does not confide or discuss his future plans with her, and this is a major development in his character. Previously she helped him a lot, but now he has isolated himself. This is evident when Lady Macbeth states “how now my lord why do you keep alone?” Although Macbeth does not disclose his future plans to Lady Macbeth he does tell her that he hasn’t gained happiness with what they have done but he actually feels regret.
In the banquet scene Macbeth is anxious to know that Banquo and Fleance have been murdered.
The murder of Lady Macduff and her children shows that Macbeth has become barbaric and ruthless as he kills innocent people. Macbeth is now known as a tyrant.
During the play, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth speak to one another in various ways depending on how their relationship bond is.
In Act 1 Scene 5 the audience see Lady Macbeth as a strong woman, and is going to do a lot of things to help her husband. When Macbeth first appears, Lady Macbeth is very dominant and takes charge of the situation.
Macbeth at the start is very anxious and is careful in what he does. “We will speak further” (Act 1 Scene 5 Line 72). This shows that he doesn‘t come to terms with Lady Macbeth straight away. However (Act 1 Scene 7) she calls him names and uses persuasion to make him go through with the murder which he didn’t want to do.
However, in Act 3 Scene 2 we see a different side to Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Here, we see Lady Macbeth who is not in full control of Macbeth any more. She asks Macbeth why he spends so long alone and doesn‘t talk to her any more. (Lines 10-12) Macbeth is still loving to her (he calls her dearest chuck), but he doesn‘t need her support to be evil now, so he prefers her not to know what is going on.
At the start, Lady Macbeth dominates, but as the play goes on, Macbeth becomes much the stronger partner.
In Act 1 Scene 5 Line 64 the quotation is “Your hand, your tongue; look like th’ innocent flower”. This demonstrates that Lady Macbeth is telling Macbeth to look innocent but be guilty underneath. Also in Act 3 Scene 2 Line 3 Macbeth says they have made situation but is still not 100% good.
In Act 5 Scene 1 Lady Macbeth sleepwalks. She appears to be uncomfortable with the murder of Duncan and rubs her hands. This shows that she is trying to get rid of the blood from her hands which she got off the dagger. The quotations were:
Macbeth “The multitudinous seas incarnadine, making the green one red” Lady Macbeth “My hands are of your colour, but I shame to wear a heart so white”.
Macbeth uses clothes imagery when he asks Ross and Angus “why do they dress me in borrowed robes”. Macbeth says “the greatest is behind,” meaning that he thinks he will become king.
Probably the most important image is in Act 2 Scene 2 Line 50:
“Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead are but as pictures”. This is after Macbeth has killed the King and still has the daggers but Lady Macbeth takes them off him to put them back and doing so has blood all over her hands.
In the play, Macbeth grew so far apart from Lady Macbeth he didn’t care that she died. This was shown in Act 5 Scene 5 Line 16 as it reads “She should have died hereafter”. Macbeth now is shown as a dominant figure but spiteful.
Macbeth’s ambition is to be King of Scotland. This drives him into believing in the Witches. At first Macbeth is sceptical about the Witches. When he’s made Thane of Cawdor he starts to believe in them. But he still thinks he can alter their prophecies. At the end he completely trusts their predictions. Macbeth is the central character all the way through the play who becomes a tragic hero.
Throughout the play there were numerous quotations which showed a different side to Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s relationship. At the start Macbeth struggles with his guilty conscience while Lady Macbeth is the strong one. When her conscience catches up with her, she can’t cope with it and goes totally mad with guilt. Macbeth then is the strong one and Lady Macbeth is the one who is struggling.
The build up of Duncan’s murder was quite significant to their relationship. Lady Macbeth persuades Macbeth to commit the murder even though he didn’t want to do it. This is the start of their torrid relationship.
Shakespeare deliberately made Macbeth so complicated to make the play interesting. It’s because he’s such a brave hero at the start that it’s such a tragedy when he does become evil.
